Navigator:Gampr
by GamprHabanero
Summary: So, you've slipped through the cracks of the school system, metaphorically speaking, and after making that up through homeschooling, you're holed up at home all day and night. Your parents have tried to get you to go out and socialize before, to no avail, so they give you this odd console thing. What happens next? A lot. Rated T for some serious themes, and some violence later on.


_**So, um...first fanfic in anything related to PAW Patrol...specifically, it's going to be a sort of multiversal tale between various shows, but, for the most part, it's a crossover between PAW Patrol and another show on the same network, Top Wing. **_

_**The premise is that a neurodiverse teenager from a version of Earth just like our own is having trouble socializing, so his parents give him a sort of "Exploration Console" with the hopes that it will get him to open up a little more. It results in him meeting new faces that he couldn't have ever met before, but also leads to various other events, good and bad. The characters of both shows do appear in this fic and are just as prominent as they were in those shows, but the focus is on the growth of our teenage protagonist as he comes out of his shell and learns to work with, around, and past his neurodiversity, and in general grows as a person...while also having to figure out how to control, get the hang of, and master some...rather absurdly powerful superpowers in the process.**_

_**I know it sounds odd, but even though this is a fanfic of, for the most part, two preschooler shows from Canada, this fic does have more than its fair share of influence from Shonen-demographic Anime/Manga (and those influences do show at various points in the story), and, while most of the story is made of lighthearted moments, it indeed ventures into much more serious subjects than these two original shows (like Special Needs and Mental Health), hence the T rating.**_

_**Okay, enough talk...showtime.**_

* * *

"Okay, I can do this-"

_*/red shell homing noises/*_

"Darn it..."

_*/hurt Koopa noises/*_

"Okay, still ahead, maybe-"

_*/more red shell noises, more hurt Koopa noises/*_

"Oh, come on, can't I-"

_*/Koopa hit by fake item box and red shell noises/*_

"Can I-"

_*/blown up Koopa noises, red shell hitting noises/*_

"Really-"

_*/Koopa hit by star-using racer noises, Koopa falling noises/*_

"Okay, maybe I can at least get Eleventh or-"

_*/bullet bill noises, yet more hurt Koopa noises, more Koopa falling noises/*_

"...sometimes the game hates me..."

_*/Koopa slipping on banana noises/*_

"You're not helping your case, game...

_*/Koopa finishing last noises/*_

"...come on..." Dennis muttered at a bout of bad luck in the game he was playing. He was specifically playing a 32-race session on Mario Kart Wii (newer installments in the Mario Kart series had been released by this time, but Wii was his favorite in the series), and he had been on the tail end of the final lap of the penultimate race of the session on GCN DK Mountain. But as he was nearing the bridge, his character (Koopa Troopa in the Blue Falcon) was suddenly hit by three red shells in a row with no banana peels to defend against them. Then, as he barely got on the bridge, he was hit by a thrown Fake Item box, a Bob-omb, two more red shells, and then hit by a player with a star and knocked off the side of the bridge. Immediately after being put back ON the bridge by Lakitu, he was hit by the racer in last place with a Bullet Bill and knocked off the bridge AGAIN. And then after being put back on the bridge again, he hit a Banana Peel about a second later. Needless to say, he finished last on that race.

"Just my luck, I guess." Dennis decided to take the loss rather than get mad about it. He was just doing this 32-race thing on this game for fun, having unlocked everything in the game years ago, and so had nothing to lose from just one loss considering he had 30 straight race wins on the session before this one. "There's always the next race, and I'm winning this long cup anyways no matter how that one goes."

Just as he was about to start the next race, however, he heard a rather familiar knock on the door. It was luckily before he had hit "Next" on the game, so he decided to respond. "Yes?"

"Can I come in?"

"Come in."

So the door open and in came his mother, who was carrying a fair-sized box in her left arm. The room wasn't hard to get into or out to, as despite one's expectations of Dennis' room being messy, it was fairly spartan other than the large collection of games and movies he had on the shelves and cupboards (his old toys and other stuff were stored in a different room).

"So what is it, mom?" Dennis asked of his mother before noticing the package. "And what's that?"

"Oh, it's a little something that your dad and I got for you." His mother answered. "We looked at it long and hard before getting it. We thought you'd like it."

"Alright then...so, what's it supposed to be?" Dennis asked about what the gift was specifically.

"It's apparently something that allows you to visit worlds of various works of fiction. I'm not sure whether it's meant by "figurative" or "literal", but still, you get the point."

The "apparently" word made Dennis slightly suspicious. "You sure this isn't...you know, a scam or something?"

"Well, if it is a scam, then we'll ask for our money back." His mother simply replied. "And if we don't get the money back then we'll press charges."

"Alright..." Dennis was silent for a moment as he waited for the words to come to him. "...I guess I'll give this thing a spin if works whenever I feel like it."

"Alright then, tell us if it works." So with that, his mother set the package down on the floor, and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Dennis looked at the package for a bit. It was, externally speaking, a cardboard box with the words "NAVIMAX EXPLORATION CONSOLE" scrawled on with Permanent Marker.

"_I suppose I'll check it out when I have the time._" Dennis thought. "_But right now, I wanna finish this last race._"

So Dennis got back to the game he'd been playing, and selected "next". It was the final racetrack on Mario Kart Wii: N64 Bowser's Castle.

...

Despite Koopa Troopa once again being a magnet for items, Dennis managed to, this time, stay ahead properly and finish in 2 minutes, 43 seconds. After that, he then saw the results for the cup. Dennis finished 1st with 465 points (it would have been 480 if not for getting "Mario-Karted" at the end of GCN DK Mountain), Luigi finished 2nd with 326 points, and King Boo finished 3rd with 263 points.

"Another victory, as usual." Dennis stated to himself. "Gotta say, this game...I do honestly find it a slight bit lacking in challenge because I've played it so much."

So Dennis went on to play various other races and also some Coin and Balloon battles on the game, before, after a while, quitting out of the game and turning off the console once he got bored. After wandering around in his room for a little bit, thinking about what he wanted to do, he finally decided to just go ahead and check out that box.

**_Ottoman Ambient - Ceddin Deden (Civilization VI)_**

"Alright, let's see what we've got here..." Dennis, fetching a pocket knife to open the box, said to himself as he then bent down and picked the box up, setting it on a table. He ever-so-carefully cut through the tape keeping the box closed, then opened it and took the contents out, setting them on the table. There were four objects that had been in the box: one was apparently some electronic thing that appeared to be locked closed with a keyhole on the bottom, but which otherwise had smooth, round edges like a handheld video game console; one was a key that was apparently for the "console"; one was a charger apparently for the console (he could see the charger port on the console); and one was an apparently homemade (but thankfully typed) booklet that was titled "NAVIMAX INSTRUCTION BOOKLET", and which had the words "Please read this thoroughly before operating your Navimax Exploration Console" at the bottom of the cover page.

Always the smart-and-careful type on anything not a video game, Dennis opened the manual and began reading through it. On the first page after the front cover, there were the disclaimers, which were few in number but in a large, stand-out font that made them easy to notice and see. The page read as follows:

_**"DISCLAIMER!"**_

_**"This is a device that really will allow you to travel to different worlds. Please plan accordingly, and when you do travel to these worlds, dress decently according to the customs, time period, and culture of the area of that world you're traveling to."**_

_**"For the sake and safety of those individuals of these other worlds, this device and accompanying items are NOT for resale or trade. It is best that you keep this device a family secret and well-secured."**_

_**"If a world you have picked to travel to is identical to or similar to a work of fiction or other form of media, do your research on that fiction or media before going there. It could literally save your life when you're there.**_

_**"Failure to read the above closely or failure to operate this device carefully may end with a mass-casualty event in one or more worlds and/or you being either dead or permanently trapped in one of those other worlds."**_

Dennis stared at the manual for a few seconds before thoughts conveying his reaction came up. _"Wow, these are serious. Clearly this isn't just some toy or knock-off fake."_

So, remembering the disclaimer about "dressing decently", he got up and went and changed out of his pajamas that he seemed to wear all day everyday most of the time these days, and put on a T-Shirt and some Blue Jeans, and then put his shoes and socks on. Once he did that, he got back to the manual and began reading through the rest of it. As he did so, Dennis, as directed by the manual, used the key on the keyhole at the bottom of the console and hooked it up to a socket in the wall with the charger. And then, once he did that and was directed to do such a thing, Dennis turned on the console by pressing the power button once.

The word "NAVIMAX" came up on the fairly large screen, followed by phrase "Loading..." appearing in a smaller font just below it. After about a minute, the "Loading..." text disappeared, and the "NAVIMAX" moved up to the top left of the screen. Then came a "Press Start" message on the screen. Before doing so, Dennis looked at the manual again to see what he had to do after he pressed start. He immediately grew suspicious of the whole thing for a brief period when he saw that, in order to use the console, he'd have to set up by putting his Name, Birth date, and Gender into it - in other words, personal information. This suspicious WAS alleviated, though, when further reading on the manual showed that the console actually didn't have an internet connection, and that he would also be making a password to both restrict use of the console and protect that information. So, after reading through this, Dennis pressed start, put the information in, and made the password out of something he would remember.

After doing this, he was met with a message that read "Welcome to the Navimax Exploration Console." There was a circle with the letter "A" in it at the bottom right of the screen that appeared immediately afterwards. This meant the "A" button, so Dennis pressed that button that was on the right side of the console. The screen then displayed a question of "Before you proceed, make sure you've read the disclaimer in the Manual. Have you read it yet?" Dennis then saw the two options that were "Yes" and "No", and hit "Yes". He then was presented yet another message that asked "Are you sure that you've read the disclaimer?", to which Dennis hit "Yes, I did". Then, a final message came that said "Alright then, let's get started!"

After a few seconds, another choice thing came up on the screen, with the question accompanying it reading "Do you want to travel in these worlds With Powers or Without Powers?", and two buttons on the screen under the question, with the one on the left reading "With Powers" and the one on the right reading "Without Powers". There was a third, "Help" button at the bottom, which, not knowing what he should go for, Dennis pressed immediately. The info from the help button explained that going With Powers would help in a high fantasy/soft sci-fi/"unrealistic" (by our standards) setting by giving the user elemental-themed powers with advanced physical abilities and great fighting ability, but would leave them sticking out like a sore thumb in a low fantasy/hard sci-fi/"realistic" (again, by our standards) setting, while going Without Powers would help the individual blend in in a setting along the lines of the latter, but would leave them vulnerable and frail with their base strength and stamina in the former. It wasn't like Dennis wasn't a fan of "realistic" stories, but he kinda wanted to 1: play it safe, and 2: have a slight bit of fun, so he decided to pick "With Powers".

Then, yet another choice screen popped up with the title of "Select your Element-Power Type combination." There were a total of nine buttons on the screen, Five under the "Choose Your Element" section, and Four under the "Choose Your Power Type" section. Of the five buttons under the "Element" section, four of them respectively read "Fire", "Water, "Air", and "Earth", and of the four buttons under the "Power Type" section, three of them respectively read "Magic", "Ki", and "Quirk". The remainder button on each section was a help button, making for two of those help buttons on the screen total. Dennis, again the studious sort, decided to first go to those Help buttons to study his options.  
From the Help button under the Element section came info about the strengths and weaknesses of each element. Fire was, stats wise, strong all around with great physical and energy attack power, impressive durability, and high speed, but in terms of moves was rather lacking in defensive techniques, so fighting styles of fire users tended to be of a "Glass Cannon" sort. Water offered an impressive array of techniques and moves both defensive and offensive, and brought with it stats consisting of incredible energy attack, as well as decent speed, but low physical strength and somewhat low durability. Air was a defensive element with emphasis on speed, but with surprisingly high power in terms of energy, at least (though not as high as Fire or Water). However, Air had the weakness of low physical power and the lowest durability of the four elements. Finally, there was Earth with its emphasis on physical power (the highest of the four elements) and durability (also the highest of the elements), but in exchange for having the lowest energy attack and lowest speed, though it did have a wide array of moves like water did.  
And from the Help button under the Power Type section, there was the info about the strengths and weaknesses of each power type. Each type both boosted physical abilities and granted energy abilities, but, like with how each element had different physical and energy stats, with Power Types, the ratio of physical abilities to energy abilities varied with each one. First, there was "Magic", on the button to the left, which gave very powerful energy abilities (the most of the three types), but boosted physical abilities the least of the three types. Then, on the button to the right, was the power type "Quirk", which boosted physical abilities the greatest, but had the weakest energy abilities. Finally, in the middle, there was "Ki", which was apparently the most balanced of the three, as its physical abilities and energy abilities were in-between both "Magic" and "Quirk", but emphasis was equally put on both types of abilities.

After noting that these powers and their names seemed and sounded rather Anime-like and were likely made for an anime-like setting (not a problem for him, of course, since he WAS a big Anime fan), Dennis thought for a while about how he wanted to go about his element-power type combo of choice. He could whip up a huge wave and send it crashing over the shore with a "Water-Magic" set, make the continent shake, punch through mountains, and hurl boulders like softballs with a "Earth-Quirk" loadout, or fly through the sky and stir up a windstorm or even a tornado with an "Air-Magic" setup. But after a few minutes of thinking, Dennis decided that, since the former was his favorite of the four elements, and since the latter was his favorite power type thanks to a certain genre of animate series that he liked to watch, Dennis decided to pick the combination of "Fire-Ki". After a bit more thinking, he then pressed the "confirm" button at the bottom of the screen, and when the console asked if he was sure if this was his choice because he wouldn't be able to change the combination after this, he picked "Yes" to say that it was indeed his choice and that he would stand by it.

After a few seconds, a new thing came up with the title "Choose Your World Difficulty". There were nine different difficulty options available on the screen, with a help button on the side of the screen as usual. The difficulties read, in order, "Beginner", "Very Easy", "Easy" "Moderately Easy", "Moderate", "Moderately Hard", "Hard", "Very Hard", and "Extreme". The help button here didn't quite say as much as the other help buttons did, but still had important info. Specifically, it said that these difficulty categories would help to judge what worlds were like in terms of how hard they were for him to do well in. It said that he would have to choose three different difficulties of worlds, but that it was recommended that he choose the three lightest difficulties first. So, after reading that, Dennis indeed chose "Beginner", "Very Easy", and "Easy". Others could call him a chump if they wanted to, but he wanted to play it safe.

And then, he got to the next section, the actual "Choose Your World" part. Or, at least, the next step to it. Anyways, paraphrasing, there was a message stating that, before he could proceed, he had to choose a world from at least two of the three difficulties that he had selected, and that he could either do so by manually browsing and searching for one in a world index, or he could choose a world with the "random select" button. So first, he went with the "Beginner" difficulty, and initially did a manual search. But after looking for a few minutes, he couldn't find any worlds that he liked, because they all had symbols and logos that gave off the impression that they were worlds similar to very kiddie kid's shows, and for a teenager, that was understandably off-putting. So, he decided to randomly select a world and hope for the best. The world that he got had a logo which was a red shield with a silver outline and what looked to be a four-digit, toony-style light-blue paw print on the shield. While having seen similar symbols for kids' shows before, Dennis had never seen THIS one in particular. Regardless, he didn't want to waste time looking for another world, so he decided to press "Yes" on the question that asked if this was the world he wanted. Then, he went to the "Very Easy" difficulty and also initially did a manual search. Again, all little kids' shows, so he once again random-selected. This time, he got a world with a logo that was a very toony/chibi-style yellow bird-like object with an orange beak, only wings and a top crest, and a sort of...contrail behind it. Again, Dennis wanted to get it done and over with, so he pressed "Yes" once again. And then he pressed "Yes, I'm Good" on the question that asked if these were the worlds he wanted to go with.

After that, he came to a message that said "Before we continue, how about we go over how to go to these worlds and come back safely." Long story short, the message was about how the tutorial was going to be about just that, and that the tutorial would go over a sort of inventory that he would have in these worlds, as well as a leveling system of sorts. So first, he followed the directions of the tutorial, selecting a sort of training world that was there by default, and then pressing "Yes" on whether he wanted to go there or not. So after that, he waited for about 10-15 seconds, and then...

_***VIIITTTT***_

* * *

_***BIIPPP***_

Suddenly, there he was. There. He. Was.

He was no longer in his room, but was now suddenly in a location that looked like something out of Garry's Mod. He was standing on an expansive white marble floor that wouldn't look out of place in a very well-made temple. In front of him, there were several pillar-like objects that were perfectly cylindrical in roundness, but quite tall and wide. To his left, he could see two tracks, one looking like the track-n-field tracks one would see behind a middle school or high school, and one looking like a straight up race track for vehicles and such. And to his right, there was a large pool of water, with there, nearby, being two large buildings, one more wide like a factory, and one more tall like a skyscraper.

"_Huh, so this is the training zone._" Dennis thought. "_Well, it certainly looks like this stuff could be used for training._"

Suddenly, a paragraph of light red text begin rapidly appearing in front of him, letter-by-letter, space-by-space. At first, he thought it was fixed in one location, but it stayed seemingly in front of his face when he moved his head around, and this was confirmed by more head movements. Then, he just focused on the text itself, which read:

"This is the Training World. You can train yourself here so that you can get stronger, more skilled, and get better control over your powers. There are several objects, devices, and other equipment and such with which you can do so: Pillars with the properties of punching bags, an on-foot racetrack and a vehicle racetrack, a sandpit, a pool of water, and two destructible buildings. You can use this area as much as you like, for when you leave, the area will be reverted to this state by the time you come here again."

Then, there was a little sentence at the bottom of that message that said "Say/Think "Continue" To Continue." So Dennis said "Continue", and then the message changed to another message. This message was about the inventory. Along with it appeared an inventory-like menu of sorts with 56 different slots, 50 of them numbered 1-50.

"Now then, let's go over your inventory. Your inventory is something where you can store items so that you can use them whenever you're in one of the worlds not your own. You can get these items from the catalog (which you can access by saying/thinking "Catalog" while you have your Inventory up) so that you can use them if you need to. There are wide arrays of items in the catalog, ranging from weapons to vehicles to armor to gadgets, but they are not free, as you have to buy each item with credits. You gain credits by leveling up, and the number of credits you get depends on the number of the level (specifically, if you know Algebra, x^2 + 100x). You can store up to 50 items in the main part of your inventory: to equip the item, Say/Think "Item No. (number of slot item is in)". To dismiss your item (return it to your inventory), just let go of it. Each item must be lesser than 10 tons in terms of weight. You yourself won't be weighed down by the weight of the items you're carrying, but you'll get more experience towards leveling up the more items you carry."

"Continue."

"You might have noticed that there aren't just 50 slots in the inventory. There are extra slots that have special purposes. These slots are for equipping armor, for equipping items on the wrist (either watches or shields), and for equipping vehicles. Say/Think "Armor" to Equip Armor, "Vehicle" to equip your vehicle, and "Watch" or "Shield" to equip your watch/shield. For your vehicle, you can dismiss it by letting go of it, just like any other item. When equipped in these slots, these items do not take up any of the 50 main slots."

"Continue."

Now, the inventory menu disappeared, and now there was a new message that appeared in the bottom half of his view, with, extending down from the top towards the center of his view, various numerical stats that were listed, as follows, at:

Current Stats  
Lvl: 1  
HP: 36  
Str: 16  
Eng: 16  
Spd: 15  
Def: 10  
Res: 14  
Bld: 4  
Total: 111  
PL: 12321

Growth Rates  
HP: 140%  
Str: 95%  
Eng: 95%  
Spd: 85%  
Def: 80%  
Res: 75%  
Bld: 15%  
Total: 585%

As for the message itself:

"This set of numbers displayed here...they are your current stats, and the growth rates for those stats. As for what these stats and growths mean and determine is up to you, but what will be explained is that they give you abilities far beyond what a normal human is capable of in your world (for obvious reasons, these stats only apply if you are in a world not your own). To level up, you gain experience by way of physical exertion (the amount of experience you get depends on the intensity of that physical activity). The most intense physical exertion out there is either fighting, lifting or smashing heavy objects, or training hard, so don't be afraid to have long training sessions here if you feel the need to."

"_Well, no thanks for the vagueness on the stats, but thanks on the leveling up and experience stuff..._"

"Continue."

And then, one final message showed up.

"That concludes the Navimax Exploration Console's Beginner's Tutorial. Hopefully, you have a wonderful and safe time exploring these different worlds and meeting new faces you couldn't have met before. You can always come back to tutorials like this later on if you need to."

"As for now, would you like to stay and train here, or would you like to leave this training area and go back to your own world?"

After a few minutes of thinking and reminding himself that the worlds in question that he had picked were at the bottom in terms of difficulty, Dennis made his choice.

"Leave."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

And then, a few seconds later...

_***VIIITTTT***_

* * *

_***BIIPPP***_

Now, back in his room again. Right by his table. No telefragging in the process. Perfect.

"_Hey...that was smoother than I expected._" Dennis thought. "_I guess I could go check out those two worlds now..._"

So, he went back over to the Navimax, which was still on, and was displaying results of that trip, apparently.

"RESULTS"

"2 EXP"

"0 CREDITS"

"Well, that doesn't look like much." Dennis said to himself dryly. "Maybe that'll change once I get a good trip or two here..."

So Dennis selected the "Return to Main Menu" button on the screen, and then it went to the main menu again. This time, it displayed three options on what he could do from it: a "Travel To Worlds" option, an "Inventory" option, and then a "Catalog" option. There was also a display of his "level" and the amount of credits he had (zero) in the top right of the screen. So he selected "Travel To Worlds", and after selecting the first world (the one with the "Shield-and-Paw" symbol), selected "Yes" on whether to travel to the world. Again, he waited for a few seconds.

_***VIIITTTT***_

* * *

_***BIIPPP***_

He found himself standing amongst a grove of fair-sized live oak trees with a good bit of shade (luckily, for he should have remembered that it was summer). Upon initially noticing no people or man-made objects, he was worried that he was in a "World Of Funny Animals", or at least "World Of Talking Animals", but when he looked up and looked around, he then noticed the pavement walkways/sidewalks/paths and benches and such, and internally had to remind himself not to not assume the worst or the most awkward or uncomfortable.

_**Hungary (Ancient) - Hej**_**_ dunáról fúj a szél; _**_**Cinege, Cinege (Civilization VI)**_

"_Right, right, don't get too worked up...or at least try not to..._" Dennis was, unfortunately, not quite as comfortable or as confident when he was away from home as he was _at_ home. He hadn't ever been a social person, and his experiences with other people weren't the best, to say the least. "_Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't freak out...just look around..._"

After looking around to see if anyone was nearby, Dennis, upon assuming that he was mostly alone, came to a sidewalk and started walking to the direction to his right. One thing that he did notice rather early on was that, not only were there a fair few people in the park, but most, if not all of them, had dogs with them. And none of those dogs had any leashes on them. There certainly was something with this world that was not like his world, and the dogs might have had something to do with it, judging by what he was seeing.

Up ahead, he could see what looked to be a Dalmatian with large, easily visible spots walking towards where he was on the other side of the sidewalk. As he (or she, it was hard to tell) came closer, it was clear that this dog was probably a puppy, since he looked rather small for a Dal, and closer still, this pup seemed to have a yellow collar with a red tag. And as the two came closer to each other yet, Dennis noticed that the pup's eyes, for some reason, looked like a human's rather than a dog's, and were more apparent and pronounced.

As the two came to passing each other, Dennis decided to greet him as he went by, given that he wasn't as awkward with animals as he was with people, and wasn't expecting any response from him (because, of course, dogs couldn't talk like humans could).

"Uh, hey..." Dennis made that sort of...well...greeting/acknowledgement to the pup as the two went by each other.

But it was at that moment that Dennis heard something that he wasn't expecting to hear from anyone not a human...and which would change him and his life.

"Oh, hey there." A little boy's voice sounded from behind, "Nice day today isn't it?" But...wait...wasn't that where the...where the...

This caused Dennis to pause and turn around to look at the pup again, whom he saw looking at him for a moment before turning back ahead.

"_Did...did...did he just..._"

...

...

...

**_"WHA-!"_**

* * *

_**So, there you go. My first chapter of this is up. Sorry if it's long, but...well...thanks to Writer's Block and it generally taking a while to put ideas together, it took me at least a month and a half to write this first chapter alone. I promise that most chapters won't be nearly this long.**_

_**And yes, I know there are the names of various soundtracks here, but that's kinda something of a hypothetical soundtrack of sorts...so yeah.**_

_**See you next chapter...whenever it comes out.**_


End file.
